So a while back on the soon to be closing Story Warren Discord (not affiliated with the Story Warren company) there was an exchange on the ages of the Longtreader brothers. Sam has gone on record that the birth order is Garten, then Whittle, and finally Wilfred. This was my response when someone commented that Wilfred seemed older than Whittle:

Well, to be fair, Wilfred:

*Was forced to witness Jupiter’s betrayal and murder.

*Found himself thrust into the role of single father/guardian to Jupiter’s heir, possibly after losing his own wife and any children to the afterterrors.

*Spent over a decade keeping Smalls safe, a task that included moving around between secret citadels.

*Constantly faced the brunt of the suspicion heaped on his family based solely on his brother’s actions, all while giving his all for the Cause with next to no appreciation or even camaraderie.

The concept of holidays in the Green Ember world is actually rather fascinating. So far as I can recall, the closest we’ve come so far were “Victory” Day and the Feast of the Mending, which turned into an annual event. Oh, and the Terralains and Drekkers apparently had recurring festivals that they did. One would have to imagine, assuming rabbit culture is as close to human as our differences can accommodate, that they had other holidays. Of course, celebrating these may not have been practical or even possible for rabbits during the years of Morbin’s reign over most of Natalia.

Some events I could see being commemorated by rabbitkind:

*The Leaping (whether on the actual anniversary, if that was still remembered, or with some observance on a date chosen later)

*The defeat of Firstfoe (again, assuming rabbits remembered when this occurred)

*Rabbitkind’s arrival on Golden Coast

*The arrival of the…

Well, it's clear that the rabbits under Whitson Mariner got into shipbuilding, if it hadn't been an art they practiced previously. Obviously they used ships to travel to Natalia, then on Ayman Lake, and later as they made their way from Ayman Lake to the Great Wood. Judging by Helmer, Hewson, and Picket's conversation in *Ember Rising*, the navy by the time of Helmer and Hewson's youth was a virtually unchallenged force dominating Natalia's waters. From the map of Natalia as we have it, these may have included:

Ayman Lake itself

The Rivers Flint and Fay, except those stretches that were under Preylord control

Lake Merle

The Goforth River, which flowed out of Lake Merle

Black Lake

Its taken me a long time to get around to making this, (Daggler fight) and i really thought that I would have finished it quicker (and better 😅) but I had forgotten over Christmas what it felt like to actually...work. and like, do things with myself. But here it is!

Backgrounds really get to me. I'm not super great at them, but I'm taking an extensive art course that should be able to help with that. :)

I've had a little more time on my hands being trapped in the house with the winter storm raging, and I was able to do a few more pieces:

This was an idea I had during the holidays of Mrs Weaver and Airen knitting (and crocheting) Smalls a new black scarf. It was just a small joke/ concept that my sister and I came up with in the wee hours of the morning.

Before Helmer in the Dragon Tomb, my favorite GE book was Prince Lander and the Dragon War. In my opinion, the stakes in Dragon War are much higher than Ember's End, mainly that the dragons that were almost unbeatable and the problems Lander had to face of the different factions. The story was very good overall, I really liked Lander and the other characters. But when I read Helmer in the Dragon Tomb, I was blown away by the massive quality of the book. The story is just incredible, I really connected myself to Helmer, which was very well written as well. The book could be a script for a movie or a TV series. So it's officially THE Best GE Book Of All Time, in my opinion.

Helmer was the apprentice of Prince Jupiter, which is such a cool add in to the og series but also heart breaking as Helmer not only had to watch his entire company slaughtered in front of him, but his best friend and Master Prince Jupiter die!

Are more books coming out to Helmers story?

So, the other day, my family and I were watching The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and at one point in the movie, Jadis is wearing a shoulder guard that kind of reminds me of the feathered one on the Longtreader uniform.

I just think it's neat how many similarities I see between GE and stuff like LotR ( which we also watched over Christmas) and The Chronicles of Narnia. Hmmm. Tell me if you guys have caught ither things i havent noticed! Im super interested. I know Tolkien was S.D Smith's greatest inspiration, but I still just think it's neat how connected it all seems!

Picket and I both have a little bit bit2025 clinging to us still ;)

Here's the late christmas art! Also. I was gifted the Old Natalia series for Christmas, and I just finished!!

I want to do art of all of the best scenes from the three books, and I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions...? Again, have a wonderful year of new beginnings, my friends.

Happy New Year My Dear Bucks and Does!

May you all have a nice year of 2026